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Dance Fever

Christian Taylor makes like
Elizabeth Berkley
in the “faction” film Showboy

Text by David Noh 
Photography by Montana USA
http://www.hx.com

Writer/actor Christian Taylor’s Showboy mixes reality and fantasy to uncover the seamy underbelly of showbiz, i.e., Hollywood and the Vegas Strip. When he is unceremoniously fired from the writing staff of Six Feet Under by gay producer Alan Ball, Taylor decides to fulfill his dream of becoming a Vegas dancer. Lindy Heymann’s documentary film crew follows him to Sin City and records every absurdly campy, humiliating moment of his crazy quest. Showboy was shot in one month for $150,000 on a digital camera. Vegas is, nevertheless, truly captured when, dressed as a Roman senator in Caesar’s Palace, Taylor extols that “fine, ancient Roman sculpture, Michelangelo’s David” while a typical tourist adds, “To be or not to be!” We spoke with Taylor to discern what’s real and what’s not in this Siegfried & Roy world of sequined tuxedos, steroided Roman gladiators, hottie dance instructors and, sometimes, gay loneliness.

So, dish me: Why this film? I was in Hollywood, not getting anywhere as a writer, and went to this bachelor party in Vegas. I was the only gay guy there and went to a gay club because I couldn’t take it anymore. I found myself dancing when a drag queen handed me a card and said, “You’re a really great dancer. I’m auditioning chorus boys for my show tomorrow.” I wasn’t brave enough for that, but it always stayed with me and I thought, What if I had? And could I set a story against that backdrop?

You Brits are, for white boys, always great dancers. The French are tragic, and Americans can be so 50–50. Very 50–50. American white boys have issues with letting go on the dance floor. Even though Brits are known for being repressed, we grow up with much better music in England. And [the dancing skills result from] going to the pub and getting drunk and doing whatever. The constraints are off.

Was that actually Alan Ball firing you in the movie? Yes, and he actually did fire me a year later, so it’s a very surreal thing to watch. And his terminology was exactly the same in the film as on the phone when he fired me. I thought, “Okay. Showbiz has driven you crazy.” Deep down, I think I wanted to get out of there and, subliminally, making the film was trying to carve out my own voice because I’d been so indentured to this one person for so long.

Your audition with Siegfried & Roy was hysterical. They were amazing, such gentlemen and professionals. We just wanted to do a little thing backstage with them in the dressing room, but Roy said, “No! This is Siegfried & Roy! We’re going to do a big thing!” They ended up paying for all the stagehands to stay back and do it, which was overtime for them we never could have afforded. They are Vegas royalty and always will be, and they’re so funny because they don’t take themselves seriously. It’s a real tragedy what’s happened with that accident, not just for poor Roy, but also that their show isn’t on the Strip, which was so iconic.

The film also addresses serious body issues: You’re considered too skinny to be in shows. That’s such a prevalent issue among gays, too. All these magazines have plastic surgery ads, telling us not to be happy with ourselves. When I visited the surgeon, it was a very surreal scene and especially powerful for gay men. We live in a culture of body fascism, and it’s bad.

What’s next? I’m working on this show for J.J. Abraham (Alias, Felicity) about a group of people who crash land on a mysterious desert island, and I’m writing two features, one of them gay. You know, we were in a gay festival and someone said, really indignantly, “How can you call this a gay film? Nobody has sex in it!” So many gay films are just shirtless sitcoms. I really wanted to make something that was more subversive. And, for some reason, women love this film. Obviously, from those shots of the gladiators, my aesthetic is totally fucking gay.